Mayor Todd Hammnel. Flanked by City Council memoers Bob Prigge, Sara Durhman, Joan Bucher and Kevin Amundson.
Secret talks end on farming out police duties
ZUMBROTA, Minn. – A quiet scheme by the City Council to eliminate Zumbrota’s seven–person police department appears to have fizzled. The Council announced in a statement that “mutually beneficial negotiations” with the police union will proceed. It appears that Council, or perhaps only some members, had been preparing to play hardball in wage negotiations and begun talks for Goodhue County deputies to take over policing. When word got out, there were citizen objections. The Council’s statement said “numerous personal attacks and threats” were made on the mayor, the Council. and city staff. Although the union had encouraged citizen dialogue on the issue, the union said the purported attacks neither reflected nor supported the union’s values.